The Red Cell Volume of the Maternal and Foetad Vessels of the Guinea Pig Placenta.

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Summary.: Circulating red cell and blood volume determinations with red blood corpuscles labelled with 32P were carried out on nine guinea pigs in the second half of pregnancy. The variations n‐ere less pronounced when the volumes were correlated to maternal weight, i. e. total body weight minus the weight of the products of conception, but the series is too small to allow an analysis of the blood volume variations during pregnancy.In the same experiments the erythrocyte content of the maternal vessels of the placenta was determined on a total of 25 placentae. A steady increase of the blood cell content per unit weight during pregnancy was found, which is in agreement with morphological findings. The blood volumes, calculated from the cell volumes with the use of the arterial hematocrit, ranged from 9 to 30 % of the wet weight of the placenta. In a 57 days pregnant animal the four placentae contained 10.8 % of the total blood volume and in another close to term the three placentae held 10.7 % of the body blood volume.The content of blood in the foetal vessels of the guinea pig placenta was determined on another series, comprising 12 placentae in four animals in the last week of pregnancy; it was found to be equal to the amount of blood on the maternal side. The red cell volume was higher on the foetal side owing to the higher foetal hematocrit. The placentae contained 11–18 % of the total foetal blood, and 55–69 % of the foetal blood was passing through the placenta per minute.Present address: Harsdorffsvej 6 A, Copenhagen V, Denmark.

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